A British man with locked-in syndrome is seeking permission to end his life. But since he can't move, he wouldn't really be able to do so without his wife's help (unless he just let himself starve). Tony Nicklinson wants to know that his wife can help him without being prosecuted for murder.
I have no privacy or dignity left. I am washed, dressed and put to bed by carers who are, after all, still strangers. I am fed up with my life and don't want to spend the next 20 years or so like this. Am I grateful that the Athens doctors saved my life? No, I am not. If I had my time again, and knew then what I know now, I would have not called the ambulance but let nature take its course.
Because the right to die often involves uncomfortable situations in which a loved one is making a judgment call on the value of someone's life, we often don't have frank discussions about how hard-fought the right to refuse medical treatment and effectively end one's life was. But being able to decide when medical intervention is too much is a rare privilege. Too often, patients find themselves in treatment situations that are hard to extricate themselves from.
It also shows a lopsided view of religion in this country. For many who identify as Christian, God has endowed us with the ability to create life where it could not otherwise have been "naturally" created -- for instance, through fertility treatment -- or extend life where it otherwise would have ended, as in Nicklinson's case. But the ability to end suffering belongs to the devil. When terminal cancer patients, for example, decide to forgo treatment, their choices shouldn't be between poisonous treatments that will extend their lives but make them sicker on the one hand and foregoing treatment and suffering with inadequate pain medication on the other. That seems to be the choice now. Rather, a grown-up view of when life can end should enter the discussion, without being overtaken by the same people overly concerned about when life begins.
-- Monica Potts
